


Distance makes the heart grow fonder

by Musetotheworld



Series: Supercat Week 3 [5]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Distance, F/F, Supercat Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 23:31:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10685148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: In a world where you're born at the same moment as your soulmate, Cat has no match, no one born at the same time. And in a world where being apart from your soulmate causes phsyical pain, that simple fact takes on a whole new meaning for her. But Cat is strong, and determined, and rises above the pain. Until one day, when she doesn't have to.





	Distance makes the heart grow fonder

Everyone expects babies to scream. The shock of birth, the sudden lack of comforting warmth and the total unfamiliarity with the world around you, and the first brush of pain you’ve ever known, it would make anyone scream.

Usually, babies adapt quickly. The first week is often spent either crying or asleep, but after that their bodies adjust to the sensations around and within them. Humans are wonderfully capable of change, after all. 

No one expects their child to scream for months.

It happens, of course. Children born too far from their soulmates have to adapt to far more than the discomfort most endure. A few hundred or even thousand miles away isn’t terrible to deal with, but for those unlucky few whose soulmates are on the other side of the world? They feel genuine pain. Hard enough on adults that separate for a time, but so much worse for those who’ve never felt pain at all.

Cat though, Cat is one of the unlucky few whose pain never eases, whose birth has no matches in the system. No child on Earth, or at least no child in any country or city that tracked such things, was born at the exact same instant. No matter where her parents take her, nothing ever changes.

Eventually she gets used to the sensation, learning to push the pain into the background. Special medications help with the worst of it, but it’s Cat’s iron will and determination that truly make the difference. Whatever flaw in the universe has dealt her this hand, she will not let it win. She’s stronger than the pain, stronger than what it might mean.

Cat knows she seems cold, unfeeling to those who don’t know her. She’s put so much into controlling the physical reactions of her body that she sometimes has no energy left to consider her emotional state. She’s too withdrawn to react appropriately, no matter how she truly feels about it. The pain of her soul being stretched to unimaginable distances makes anything else seem faded in comparison.

It’s not until she’s thirty-seven and pregnant with her second child that things change. She’d sworn that she’d do better this time, pain or no pain. That she’d be the mother her child deserved, do things right by him. No matter how hard it is, she won’t let anyone think she doesn’t love him.

She thinks it’s just her determination that makes the pain lessen at first. That she’s focused so hard on pushing it down that her awareness of it faded. It’s too gradual to get her attention at first, and she’s distracted by the ridiculous number of issues that her board seems to find with the thought of her having a child. She hasn’t faced this many coup attempts and plots since she’d first formed the board, and for a month or two that demands her entire focus.

It’s not until she misses a dose of the medication that helps dull the worst of the pain that Cat realizes the constant presence has dulled.

After that she keeps careful track, so used to the constant sensation of pain that any difference in intensity is clear for her to see now that she’s looking for it.

By the time Carter is born she’d almost say she isn’t in pain at all, not compared to the agony that has been her life for so many years. Childbirth, something that had been almost laughably easy in comparison the first time around, seems so much worse when not set against the backdrop of a strained soul bond, and every moment she’s in labor serves to highlight just how different she feels.

There’s no explanation for it, no matter how hard Cat looks. There are the stories about those whose pain never fades, or those who never feel even the slightest discomfort. But if anything like this has ever happened before, there’s no record to be found.

Whatever the reason, Cat decides to be thankful. She can now give Carter the attention he deserves, without the distraction of fighting down that part of herself. She toys with the idea of looking for her soulmate, for finding her answers that way, but ultimately decides against that. It’s usually considered wrong to go looking for your soulmate rather than letting things work out so you meet. And Cat might be curious, but she also has a small child depending on her.

So the question ends up being shelved for a few years, though at times Cat’s mind drifts back to wonder. She can feel the pain of their separation ebb and flow now, more a discomfort than true pain at this point. She tries to imagine what her soulmate is doing, but she can never come up with anything that feels right. There are too many unanswered questions.

Carter is eight when Cat’s discomfort fades to almost nothing, and she knows that her soulmate, whoever they are, is in National City. The old urge to go find them grows, but Cat hasn’t gotten this far in life without learning how to control herself. They’re meant to meet, and she can be patient until that happens.

She wasn’t expecting it to happen when a girl, a very young girl, walks into her office for an interview. Suddenly all of her questions have ten more to go with them, and Cat doesn’t know how to react. She hadn’t been expecting a girl, though it’s always been an idle thought in her mind. And she definitely hadn’t been expecting someone so young. Or at least, someone who looks so young.

When the interview winds down Cat makes a spur of the moment decision and stands, extending her hand for Kara to shake. She has to know, has to be sure. The first moment of contact between two soulmates seals the bond, easing the pain completely no matter how far they travel. And it’s always felt clearly, unable to be overlooked or missed.

The rush that runs through them both leaves them looking shocked. There’d been no way to prepare for the sensation, no matter how often Cat had studied the phenomenon.

“Well there’s a surprise,” Cat says after a moment, hand still holding firmly to Kara’s. After she’d made her last assistant cry none of her employees dare to so much as glance her way, and she takes full advantage of that fact. “You’ve got some explaining to do, you know.”

Kara doesn’t answer, just looks almost terrified by the very thought, and Cat lets out a long sigh of defeat. As curious as she is, as much as she wants the answers to the questions she’s had for so long, she’s not heartless. She can seem cold and unfeeling, the habits of a lifetime hard to break and often useful when it comes to her work, but she’s not. And when Kara looks so scared of this new development, Cat can do nothing but respond.

“When you’re ready, of course,” she adds, watching as Kara relaxes the slightest bit. 

“Does this mean I got the job?” Kara asks, and Cat allows herself a small smirk. She might not want to push Kara, but that doesn’t mean she can’t have a little fun anyway.

“No,” she says, watching as Kara’s face falls for the barest fraction of a second before continuing. “But if you’d like a date instead, that can be arranged.”

She won’t ask, she won’t pry, but Cat thinks that she might almost be willing to go without answers if Kara smiles at her like that again. Almost.

The answers will come, she knows they will. And until then, she can be patient.

She’s had years of practice after all.

**Author's Note:**

> This is another one where I could have gone on for chapters and chapters if I'd stopped to explore the plot points I'd originally plotted out. Since I didn't do that it's a bit short, whoops. No promises, but I might eventually write a second chapter from Kara's POV that includes a continuation.


End file.
